A green cat litter that works

World's Best Cat Litter's a biodegradable, renewable product that lives up to its name — for most cat owners.

Clay cat litter is no friend of the environment, so many environmentalists go for non-clay, biodegradable litters — a growing market with a slew of products all made with different ingredients and boasting different scents — and more importantly, varying efficacy.

I don’t have litter-related worries since I don’t own a cat, but my friends Summer and Matt do, and tried World’s Best Cat Litter for me. Made of U.S.-grown whole-kernel corn, the biodegradable litter promised odor-free cleanliness without synthetic chemicals, clays or perfumes. The clay litter is flushable too. (But for more deets on the litter-flushing debate — as well as other flushing debates — read this).

Did it work? “I give it very high marks,” said Matt:

When I first dumped the bag into our litter box, I got a slight whiff of corn, and kinda thought “uh oh … we’re gonna have a corn-field smelling bathroom.” However, that disappeared right away, never to be smelled from again. It wasn’t like that other stuff you had us try out where it smelled like we might have a Glade plug-in or something.
Speaking of smell, it did a remarkable job of absorbing (or covering up? how the hell does this stuff work anyway!) the cat’s business. I just really didn’t smell it at all.
That is, until just yesterday, and it smelled pretty bad … however, it was waaaaaay overdue to be changed, so this isn’t the litter’s fault. As a studied engineer, we’d call this a “stress test”… meaning, I tested it to the point of failure … and it lasted remarkably long.
The last think I look for in litters is clumpability , and it seemed just fine in that regard too. I guess I’m officially recommending it.

Grist has a slightly less enthusiastic review of World’s Best Cat Litter; Sarah van Schagen found the litter was more odorous and less poop-covering than Matt found. These different findings are strangely interesting to me — Most Amazon reviews of the product, for example, are very positive, yet there are always those one-star reviews that say the exact opposite of what all the other reviewers said. Why is that?

World’s Best Cat Litter can be found at a store near you, including Ralph’s, Petco and many pet stores — as well as online on Amazon.